A history of the working group to address Los Alamos community health concerns - A case study of community involvement and risk communication
In May 1991, at a Department of Energy (DOE) public hearing at Los Alamos, New Mexico, a local artist claimed there had been a recent brain tumor cluster in a small Los Alamos neighborhood. He suggested the cause was radiation from past operations of Los Alamos National Laboratory. Data from the Laboratory's extensive environmental monitoring program gave no reason to believe this charge to be true but also could not prove it false. These allegations, reported in the local and regional media, alarmed the community and revealed an unsuspected lack of trust in the Laboratory. Having no immediate and definitive response, the Laboratory offered to collaborate with the community to address this concern. The Los Alamos community accepted this offer and a joint Community-Laboratory Working Group met for the first time 29 days later. The working group set as its primary goal the search for possible carcinogens in the local environment. Meanwhile, the DOE announced its intention to fund the New Mexico Department of Health to perform a separate and independent epidemiological study of all Los Alamos cancer rates. In early 1994, after commissioning 17 environmental studies and meeting 34 times, the working group decided that the public health concerns had been resolved to the satisfaction of the community and voted to disband. This paper tells the story of the artist and the working group, and how the media covered their story. It summarizes the environmental studies directed by the working group and briefly reviews the main findings of the epidemiology study. An epilogue records the present-day recollections of some of the key players in this environmental drama.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environment, Safety and Health (EH) (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 751963
- Report Number(s):
- LA-13656-H; TRN: US0003021
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Jan 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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